Big Kahuna’s Baseball Rants and Raves (Mostly Rants)

World Baseball Classic is going strong, First all I really really love baseball and I am really trying to get into the whole WBC concept…….it really ain’t working for me. Last nights game between Puerto Rico & the Dominican Republic was a real headliner, two really good teams with MLB All-Stars playing. I started watching after 60 Minutes ended because my dear darling wife Mrs. Kahuna wanted to see the segment on the La Sagrada Familia in Spain. By the way, I have to give that segment a Rave, it was done well and the female reporter for 60 Minutes was pretty cute. OK, back to the WBC. I watched this high profile game for about 5 innings and even though it was a good game I got bored with it and turned on the Food channel and watched Restaurant Impossible, and you will be happy to know that Chef Robert saved the day again. After that I forgot all about the WBC and watched Vikings, then off to bed I went and I still don’t know who won the game and I really don’t care. I’m just ready for MLB to start.

Whats to become of the Hebrew Hammer??

Is he or isn’t he??? That is the million dollar question swirling around Milwaukee & the state of Wisconsin. We are going through round 2 of the Ryan Braun PED scandal. My heart really wants to say there is no way he would do such a stupid thing. Just look at the guy, there is no way he looks like he is juicing…….then again, where there is smoke there is usually fire. Ryan Braun is the only player ever to beat MLB on a drug case. Does MLB have it in for Braun?? Who knows. What I’m hearing on the ol’ Twitter grapevine is that some serious stuff is coming down the road and is going to crash head on to Mr. Braun. If Braun is suspended 50 games it could be a really ugly season start for the Brew Crew. No Braun or Hart….ouch!! That would put too much pressure on our young rotation. Let’s hope for the best and a full season of Ryan Braun. The jury is still out but Ryan Braun gets a Rant for associating with the likes of Anthony Bosch & his company Biogenesis.

OK, my last rant for the day. Spring is almost with us and that means all the Little Leagues, Babe Ruth Leagues and High School Baseball programs will be starting up. I am the President of a local Babe Ruth League. I really enjoy watching the youth of our area play ball. This rant goes out to all the parents who mean well but just don’t get it. I read a quote from St. Louis Cardinal Manager Mike Matheny. When Matheny was coaching his sons Little League team he said his ideal team would be a team of orphans. As a parent of six children who all played multiple sports, I have screwed up also…..but I learned from my screw ups, and quickly. Parents are what makes my summers more difficult than they need to be. The kids are great, they just want to play ball with their friends. The typical disgruntled parent phone call I get in the summer lasts about 25-30 minutes and I speak for about 30 seconds of it. I do get to say uh-huh a lot.

Parents, some things to remember:

There is a 99.9% chance your son will not get a D-1 scholarship or get drafted.

Thanks for leaving all the coaching to the coaches, choosing to play catch or pitch to your son in the backyard would have been a great detriment to his progress as a ball player. It may have resulted in caught balls, actually making contact while hitting and having some quality time with your child.

The great job you have been doing on teaching your child good sportsmanship. Please keep up the good work by continuing to complain about everything from the umps to their coach to the person who has been volunteering in the concession stand all day because you have not volunteered.

I would also like to thank all the parents who point out the fields need improvement. Coaches & board members just love not having you help rake fields after games…….or help cleaning up the dug-outs of empty Gatorade bottles, chewing gum wrappers and we really like sweeping up your kids sunflower seeds on the dug-out floor. Would it be too much to ask of you as a parent to make yourself and your child a better citizen and help us out.

Please send your coach a picture of what you look like. It is kind of hard to see you through the tinted windows of your SUV. You look blurry as you barely slow down to drop your child off and then come back 25 minutes later than you should have been there to pick him up. We as coaches really enjoy sticking around and having quality one on one time with your child while waiting.

It’s amazing how kids can play sandlot ball all day. We as adults can really get in the way of a good time. Kids just want to play ball with their friends.

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